Following today’s release of ASOS’ figures for the year to 31 August 2025; Louise Deglise-Favre, lead apparel analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view: “ASOS’ struggles continued in FY2024/2025, with its revenue falling 14.7% to £2.5bn for the full year, slightly worsening from H1, when sales dropped 13.7%. The retailer remains threatened by more affordable and agile players, such as Shein, Temu and Cider, as well as by the rise of resale. However, despite these disappointing sales, ASOS’ profitability improved significantly with total EBITDA reaching £92.8m, after a loss of £39.7m last year, though it still experienced an operating loss of £212.3m. For FY2025/26, ASOS expects to continue improving its profitability, with EBITDA forecast to land between £150m and £180m.
“The retailer has been most resilient in its UK home market, where consumers are more familiar with its proposition, but its revenue still dropped 9.3%, hindered by low consumer sentiment amid economic difficulties. Europe’s revenue declined 18.8%, struggling to capture spend against competitors such as Zalando. The US was ASOS’ weakest market, falling 23.9%, due to weak brand appeal and the dominance of Shein and Temu in the country. While tariffs will severely impede future growth for Shein in the US, ASOS will still need significant marketing and improved product assortment to raise its awareness here. ASOS’ Rest of World sales fell 16.0%, due to a lack of brand awareness in many markets and because of previous strategic decisions to improve profits, such as weakening its delivery proposition and raising prices.
“ASOS is undertaking various initiatives to improve its future performance. Notably, the relaunch of Topshop brands in August, which ASOS still owns a 25% stake in. The Topshop brands first relaunched through a standalone website and announced partnerships with Liberty and John Lewis in the UK, with the latter scheduled to launch in late November. While highly anticipated, the relaunch left some consumers slightly underwhelmed and surprised by the choice of retail partners, feeling they did not fully align with Topshop’s target audience of Millennial shoppers. ASOS also expanded its selection of brands, onboarding over 100 partners throughout the year, strengthening its product assortment. ASOS has continued developing its ‘Test & React’ model, which brings the latest trends to customers from design to site within three weeks. The model now accounts for 20% of own-brand sales, helping its assortment become more trend-led and its inventory more agile. However, ASOS still has some way to go in improving the quality perception of its own-brand products. It will also need to address the virulent criticism towards its severe return policies, which has deterred many shoppers.”
